iTunes 7.1 first impressions

So I just finished rebooting the computer after loading the new iTunes and QuickTime updates and here's what I found. After launching iTunes and going through the mandatory "click accept" thing (I mean, honestly, does anyone ever read those things? I don't.), I waited for a couple of minutes while iTunes "updated" my library. I've got a very small library compared to most people, so I'm a little wary about how long this might take for other people.

The new full-screen Cover Flow (shown here) is nice and easy to use. Click the button at the bottom right of the screen to zoom in and out from full-screen mode.

When you control-click (or right-click) items in your library, there's a new "Apply Sort Field" option, where you can pick Same Album, Same Artist, Same Album Artist, Same Composer or Same Show. Select any of these and iTunes will prompt you whether to change the Sort field for all matching tracks. (e.g. If you select Same Album, you affect the Sort Album column, and so forth.) I'm still unclear as to the utility of this new option. Let me know in the comments why this is important.

Finally, there's a new AppleTV help option in the Help menu, but the links are still pretty much all bogus. This will probably change as AppleTV actually ships.

Check out all the screenshots in our gallery.

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